A FORMER care home in Darlington is to be converted into a private house.

The 12 elderly residents living in Cleveland Villa, Cleveland Avenue, moved to other care homes in December.

Former owner and local councillor Philip Stamford-Bewley recently sold the home, which was being marketed as a development opportunity, to a private buyer who is expected to convert it into a private house.

Cleveland Villa had been a care home since 1984, accommodating 14 residents.

* Darlington Borough Council has received a planning application for permission to build a 61-bed care home in Riverside Way, Darlington.

St Martin's Care, of Sunderland, has submitted the application for a building designed by architect John Waugh, of Houghton-le-Spring.